A congressional bill passed out of committee would authorize, among
other projects, the deepening of the lower 115 miles of Columbia River
and Willamette River channels to accommodate deeper draft ships, a project
that could begin as soon as 2001. An Army Corps of Engineers feasibility
study the assesses the impacts of dredging the channel from its current
40 feet to 43 feet is in the final stages of a public process set to be
completed by June. However, the Corps says that …
